Chapter 6: SIX

Lana Northwood took the witness stand with the confidence of a Tereskàdian hunter who had just cornered her prey, waited for Aaron Farrow to ask the first question.

“For the record, please state your full name.”

“Lana Lindsay Northwood.”

“Could you tell the court what you do?”

“I attend the University of Westover.”

“Could you tell the court what happened on the night of April 22^nd of this year.”

Lana cleared her throat, smoothed her skirt. “I was at my friend Marie’s house...”

“Marie...?”

“Marie Beauchamp,” she said, raising dainty eyebrows.

Beechm Beechm Beechm Beechm. Sendrhea rolled the name over in her head. Fharezhan poked her mind to get her attention back to the trial.

“It was about eight-thirty,” Lana was saying, “and I wanted to be home by nine because I wanted to watch this show about gorillas. I’ve seen King Kong about a dozen times. The original one, you know, not that stupid remake. They kid me about it, tell me I’m living in the dark ages, but I don’t care.”

How old is that film? Sendrhea wondered, not expecting an answer from her whistling dragon.

“Please keep on track, Miss Northwood,” Kingsley said.

Lana sighed, fiddled with her hair. “Anyway, I took the shortcut through Benjamin Lassiter Park. That’s the one on the west end of the city. I’m walking past that new fountain, and suddenly I see this alien... drinking from her whistling dragon. Kind of weird, if you ask me, even after they’ve told us about it. I think we’re supposed to be used to it by now, but... who does something like that? Especially when you’re an adult.”

Kingsley cleared his throat. “Miss Northwood, your personal opinions don’t matter here.”

“Yeah, sure. Anyway, you know how whistling dragons hover sometimes, and you can see their tits... sorry, Your Honor, their teats sticking out. So she’s sucking on his tit... I mean teat, and she has her eyes closed like she’s in some kind of dreamworld or something. So I go up to her, and I’m like ‘How are you?’ ” She shifted in her seat, rubbed her left hand with the index finger of her right, dabbed her cheek before placing her hands in her lap again. “The dragon... the animal hisses at me, so she stops sucking and just looks at me. She tells me I shouldn’t bother her when she’s drinking, tells me I should know that. She’s got her ears back, you know, like she’s mad or something. She asks me what I’m doing here, and I’m like ‘None of your fu... friggin’ business,’ and I keep walking. I know it’s a ‘she’ because she didn’t have those... hairs around the ears like that male there. And her whistling dragon... well, it was obvious he was a male because he had it out, if you know what I mean. She says, ‘Why are you bothering me, human?’ So I stop and turn around, and she’s standing there right in front of me. She asks me for money. Money? Don’t know why she’d do that, but she tells me to give her all my money, or she’d scratch me. Her claws... Like a cat. One minute you can’t see them, the next, they’re out, ready to scratch you. So I said... well, I used the ‘f’ word, told her to ‘f’ off, and she scratched me for no reason. She went berserk. She tried to get at my face, told me she would scratch my effing eyes out. I tried to protect my eyes, but she scratched my arms and my... my belly... Like a vicious animal.”

“How did you get to the hospital?”

“My friend Marie called an ambulance. They took me.”

“What puzzles me is this, Miss Northwood: Why are you so certain Sendrhea scratched you?”

“Those collars they have, with that red diamond symbol? Their names are on it, the Tereskàdian and their whistling dragons. I noticed it while she was scratching me. It had strange symbols on it, probably their language, but it’s the same collar that female has around her neck.” She stabbed a finger at Sendrhea.

He’s not going to ask about her friends, Fharezhan sent.

Of course not, but I will.

“How do you feel at the moment?” Farrow asked. “It’s been what?... three months since the... assault.”

“Better. It’s been a long road.”

“How do you feel about the aliens in general?”

“I have nothing against them. I mean, they’re here to stay, aren’t they? I just don’t know what came over Sendrhea when she attacked me.”

“Thank you, Miss Northwood.” A sympathetic voice, like someone counseling a relative of a recently deceased human.

Sendrhea stood, faced her accuser. Lana Northwood glared at her. The two, Tereskàdian and human, locked eyes. Like all Tereskàdians uncomfortable with anyone staring at them, Sendrhea relented and looked at Kingsley, the jury, the gallery, her mate and daughter, before addressing the young female.

“I find it amazing,” she said, “that you could decipher an alien language while you were allegedly being attacked.”

“I know what I saw. It was a dark yellow collar, just like yours.”

“Is Sendrhea going to ask a question?” Farrow put in.

“All right,” she said. She took a couple of steps closer to the witness stand. “Mr. Farrow forgot... maybe conveniently forgot to ask about your friends who were present during this attack.”

Farrow stood. “I didn’t ask about that because it has already been established that Miss Northwood’s friends had committed perjury.”

“Mr. Farrow is right,” Kingsley said. “Questions pertaining to Miss Northwood’s friends being present at the park are no longer valid, and I suggest you move on to something else.”

It’s not fair. They may have been charged with perjury, but they haven’t had a trial, and they haven’t been found guilty.

Let’s ask her something else, Fharezhan sent.

She returned to her table, checked her notes. “Miss Northwood... no, Lana. I’ll call you Lana; I’ll be asking you a lot of questions. You might say my future depends on our question-and-answer session. If your belly was scratched, why wasn’t your shirt torn? Did your attacker ask you to pull up your shirt so she could scratch your belly without ruining that nice anime shirt?”

Laughter, quickly silenced by Kingsley’s gavel.

Lana fiddled with her plain beige top, fingers nibbling at one of her short sleeves.

“Senha... uh... Lana?” Sendrhea urged.

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“I had a change of clothing with me,” Lana said. “In my purse.”

Sendrhea’s whiskers twitched. “You’re on your way home, and you take a short cut through the park, carrying a change of clothing in your purse. What change? Top, shirt, pants... underwear?”

“Yes.”

“Which?”

“A top.. this top... and underwear. I.. uh.. I had my period.”

Snickers. Three more bangs of Kingsley’s gavel.

“So let me get this straight. This alleged alien attacked you for no apparent reason... No, wait a minute, I think I have that wrong. She wanted money, and you didn’t give it to her, so she... scratched you. Scratched your arms, your cheeks, your belly... And lo and behold, you just happen to have a change of clothing because you had your period. Don’t you use tampons or...?” She held up her paw. “Never mind. When did you switch from your shirt to that top, before or after Miss Beauchamp showed up?”

“Before.”

Sendrhea sighed. She had to tear this girl’s testimony to shreds. Once that was done, Miss Northwood would face perjury charges, just like her friends.

She paced the courtroom, applauded, turned back to Lana. “Bravo, Senha... Miss Northwood. What a performance. You almost had me in tears.” She returned to the table. “Your Honor, considering that we’ve already heard about perjury in this courtroom, I’m just wondering what the penalty for perjury is.”

“Excuse me?”

“Blatant, outright perjury. What is the penalty?”

“Depends on the circumstances,” he said. “Could be as much as five years. What’s your point, Sendrhea?”

“Thank you, Your Honor. Miss Northwood... Lana... the Tereskàdians have been living in northern Ontario long enough to establish themselves in the eyes of Canadians, and hopefully around the world, as friendly. No Tereskàdian, no whistling dragon, has ever attacked a human being, let alone killed one.”

“But you eat meat, don’t you? You’re carnivores. How do we know you’re not fattening us up to take us back to your planet?”

“And how would we get there? The ship that brought us here is disabled, and humans don’t have the capacity to repair it, and neither do Tereskàdians. If they did, we would gladly...”

Farrow stood. “Your Honor, is this getting anywhere?”

“I have to agree with Counsel,” Kingsley said. “Ask your question, Sendrhea.”

“My apologies, Your Honor. Miss Northwood, everyone in this courtroom knows you’re wasting everyone’s time. You’re wasting the Judge’s time, you’re wasting the jury’s time, and your time as well. Before we go ahead, do you want to rescind the accusations you have made against me?”

“You’re out of your mind. I want to see you in jail.” The hand rubbing again, a little more vigorously this time.

“That will not happen,” Sendrhea said.

“We’re waiting for Sendrhea to ask more questions of this witness, if she has any.” Farrow’s pen danced on his papers.

“I will definitely ask a question.” She turned to the jury, the gallery. “Those who have read the books about us will understand the question; those who think the latest rock group is more important, or who have their faces stuck in Facebook or Instagram, may be puzzled.” She turned to Lana. “Before I ask it, here are a few rules. First, I will ask it only once. I will ask it clearly and concisely. If you don’t understand the question the court... clerk will read it back to you. You will answer the question. I don’t care how long it takes, but you will answer it. You will not leave the courtroom until the judge and jury are satisfied with your answer. Do you understand what I’ve just said?”

“Objection, Your Honor,” Farrow huffed, on his feet, hands flat on the table. “What is Sendrhea doing?”

She faced the judge. “I know exactly what I’m doing, Your Honor.”

“I still object,” Farrow said. “This is highly irregular.”

“Have you read about us, Sen Farrow?” she asked.

“I’m swamped with work.”

“Read ‘The Tereskàdians.’ It’s the definitive book about our species. You will understand why I’m going to ask that question.”

The clock on the wall to Kingsley’s left had drawn his attention. “I’m going to overrule your objection, Mr. Farrow. I will allow this. Call it curiosity, if you will, but the way Sendrhea presented that statement tells me the question must be one of extreme importance. Unfortunately, it has to be postponed until after lunch. We will reconvene at two. Sendrhea, Miss Northwood, I suggest you leave by separate exits. I do not want any... incidents to mar this case.”

“Aren’t you going to put her in a cell?” Lana asked.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Kingsley said.

“My mate and daughter and I will eat at the McDonald’s just around the corner,” Sendrhea said.

“Why don’t you ask me the question now?” Lana said. “Let’s get it over with.”

“I will decide when this is over,” Kingsley said. “Security, escort Miss Northwood out the Winston Avenue exit. Miss Northwood, I suggest you get some lunch. Sendrhea, I believe your McDonald’s is on Harwood.”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Go that way, come back the same way. I expect you here fifteen minutes before court reconvenes. If you happen to see Miss Northwood, you will not converse with her. And Miss Northwood, the same goes for you.”

“I understand, Your Honor,” human and alien said together.

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